Atlético de Madrid came out strongly in the first match of the triangular tournament against Guadalajara. Our team had the ball, with a good work from Saúl and Thomas on the midfield and soon, scoring occasion started to arrive. A long throw-in by Gámez was the first warning after an extended shot by Savic but the goalkeeper saved it before Saúl could head 9 minutes from the start.

The team was doing everything but missing the goal. The match needed to change gears and they did it. Raúl García forced the goalkeeper to make a great save in the final stretch of this first fixture and the goal came through Savic, but it was cancelled due to a foul of the Montenegrin. Despite our attempts, Guadalajara held the initial 0-0 for a tie in the first match of the triangular tournament.

THE GOAL:1-0. 25’. Pires scores with a left-footed shot from the edge of the box.

The second match against Leganés was more even. The blue and whites fought back and had their chances from very soon. Jackson was a starter again but was replaced on minute 11 by Correa, a player who began to show his class right away. However, Leganés found the goal first with a shot by Pires from outside the box that surprised Moyá.

Our team tried until the end but without any luck. We could see a spectacular race by Carrasco with a cross that did not reach Correa by very little, and Vietto and Saúl also had two occasions to tie. First defeat in the pre-season in a tournament in which Diego Pablo Simeone will have drawn good conclusions, although we missed scoring in the rival’s goal.